Sarko news

[Truffaut]

Anne,
As I understand it, the meaning of "conservative" in the French and American systems is somewhat different, as are the meanings of "left" and "right". It causes a lot of confusion when trying to draw comparisons.

In the US, the two parties once had primarily economic differences, but in the last 2 decades, the critical differences have come to be more and more about social differences. The Republicans of late, supposedly in favor of lower expenses and smaller government, have tended to spend more than Democrats. Democrats, once the socially conservative party, are now more likely to be liberal. Our system has become so divisive, I'm not sure it can survive over the long term. Politics simply doesn't work when there is no room for negotiation with others who think differently. Though I find it somewhat confusing and unstable, a multi-party parliamentary system does have the advantage that it forces various parties to establish workable, if not always comfortable, compromises.

[Anne]

admin said:

Anne,
As I understand it, the meaning of "conservative" in the French and American systems is somewhat different, as are the meanings of "left" and "right". It causes a lot of confusion when trying to draw comparisons.

In France we use very much the terms of "the Left" (i.e. socialists) and "the Right" (i.e. conservatives) - let's forget about the extremes on both sides here .
Actually, the word "conservative" isn't usually used in politics . It is more about society and morals .
The word "liberal" isn't directly used in politics but it is used either in economy (less government intervention on economic matters) or in society and morals (meaning more open-minded people) .

The French Right is getting more and more liberal in terms of economy, but still very moderately so . France has a long tradition of "Etat-providence" (welfare state) which cannot be wiped out, even if some things have to evolve because they aren't viable anymore . That's where they (and I) mostly disagree with the Left .
But in terms of society and morals, there isn't such a big difference between the Right and the Left, both are rather tolerant, both for the secularism of the State, against death penalty, pro choice, etc ... The time when the Right was mostly made of old conservative Catholics is long gone .

The general feeling is that the difference between the Right and the Left has decreased in the past twenty years . Of course, there are differences in economic policies, immigration policies, etc ..., but even on those matters the Right would never question the fact that poor people are entitled totally free medical care, for example . And conversly, Ségolène Royal was talking surprisingly much about family values or discipline for the kids during the presidential election . Experts in politics or sociology explain that this blurring of differences is not a good thing, because people who are unhappy with the current situation are then tempted to vote for the extreme-left or -right partys since of course these ones show clear differences .

Thank you to those who have read this till the end, I promise that there won't be anymore lectures on French politics ;D

[cybee]

Anne266
Very interesting discussion re French right/left distinctions. This has surely confused me before and so I read yours (and Truffauts) comments with great interest! It seems in the States that the "morality" factor has crept into politics in recent elections (a big factor in why George W was re-elected last time, I suspect...the Evangelical movement, etc.) (...as if Dems are immoral! Of course not)! . There are indeed very strong distinctions such as in matters of women's "choice" and such, however other issues seem to be more at the forefront during this Presidential election! (e.g. Economy/ Iraq / health care).